What’s going on at popular Disney Springs bakery, Gideon’s Bakehouse?
Is something burning?
Gideon’s Bakehouse, an Orlando-based bakery with a Disney Springs location, is now at the center of mysterious debate.
The bakery owned by Steve Lewis is known for its half-pound cookies, layer-cake slices and cold brew coffee.
After an Instagram account under the moniker Ghosts of Gideons popped up in early May accusing management of unfair and unsafe labor practices, fans of the bakery are left wondering: What’s happening at Gideon’s Bakehouse?
TODAY.com spoke with eight people familiar with the matter to try to understand the half-baked controversy.
Who are the Ghosts of Gideons?
An individual managing the Ghost of Gideons’s email address, who remained anonymous due to fear of retaliation, tells TODAY.com they “spoke with 36 employees over the course of multiple shifts to gather information, perspectives, and facts,” which were used to create a publicly shared demand letter. The total number of employees involved is unknown.
A source familiar with Gideon’s Bakehouse operations tells TODAY.com a former employee was at the helm of the Ghosts account.
The letter accuses Lewis and other upper management leaders of health, safety and operational violations, stating claims in multiple Instagram posts and a formal letter reviewed by TODAY.com.
“We, are the Ghosts of Gideons, the poor and unfortunate souls upon whom you have built your cookie empire,” the eight-page letter states. Dated May 10 and addressed to Lewis, “Grand Poobah of Operations” Patrick McKinney and general manager Bryan Freiermuth, it lists a number of “hazardous operational procedures,” including accusations of discrimination, racism, sexual harassment and health and safety violations.
We spoke with one current and four former Gideon’s Bakehouse employees about the letter and its contents. These employees worked at Gideon’s Bakehouse East End Market and Disney Springs locations as front-of-house team members, including managerial roles, and were responsible for fulfilling customer orders in a quick-service environment. This included packaging food products, making cold brew coffee, handling cash transactions and other customer service needs.
On May 15, the Ghosts of Gideons public Instagram account turned off commenting and deleted thousands of comments on several of its posts, drawing concerns from fans of the bakery about the legitimacy of the account.
What are the allegations against Gideon’s Bakehouse?
The letter claims employees are the “lowest paid in all of Disney Springs,” though they did not support that claim with evidence.
Our source familiar with Gideon’s Bakehouse operations confirmed entry-level employees start at $8.98 per hour and receive tips. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Florida’s minimum wage is $12 per hour; the minimum hourly cash wage rate for eligible tipped employees is $8.98.
While Gideon’s workers are compensated as tipped employees under Florida law, they say Lewis banned them from explicitly asking customers for tips. (Customers can tip in cash or via the store’s POS system, Square, if desired.)
In addition to disputes over wages, the Ghosts of Gideons raised concerns about safety and accessibility at the Bakehouse. Employees allege in the letter there is “no second means of fire egress from the kitchen” in the Disney Springs location, “and should a fire or other disaster occur with the ovens, we would be trapped and unable to escape.”
Jonny Corzo, a former Gideon’s employee from March 2020 to July 2021, also alleges the ovens in the Disney Springs location are not equipped with hood fans.
“You have a management office, a desk sitting back there, you have bakers sitting back there all day long, you have people going in and out of that kitchen all day,” Corzo tells TODAY.com. “The amount of heat that is generated in that kitchen — with the fact that you’re consistently baking cookies all day long until the end of the day — without having a hood in there to be able to suck that out is mind-boggling to me.”
Our source familiar with Gideon’s Bakehouse operations claims a second fire exit is not required by law, adding the Disney Springs location passed a recent fire inspection. They did not refute claims regarding the absence of a fire egress from the kitchen.
The letter also alleges the Disney Springs location does not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mobility standards, a claim reinforced by two former employees.
“The counters must be moved to allow an employee who utilizes a wheelchair or other mobility device the proper space to move behind the counters and throughout the kitchen,” the letter states.
Corzo alleges the East End Market location isn’t ADA compliant either. “I’ll tell you off the bat — neither one of their locations are handicapped accessible,” he says.
Alex Rose, a former Gideon’s Bakehouse manager, says she interviewed a potential employee who was a wheelchair user and had a guide dog. “She was personable, very lovely. No reason not to hire her. Working in the store, I could already recognize like, ‘Ooh, how would this work?’”
Rose said she went to management to see how they could accommodate the potential employee.
“I was told that the wheelchair wouldn’t fit and there was nowhere to put the dog, so we couldn’t hire her. But of course, we can’t say that, so we just said it wasn’t a good fit.”
Our source familiar with Gideon’s Bakehouse operations denied that anyone who needed mobility accommodations has ever applied for a position.
The Ghosts of Gideons also allege a financial officer in the human resources department used “racial slurs during the May 6th meeting, referring to guests as gypsies and hoodlums” and “demand her firing and removal immediately.” Our source, who attended the meeting, denied that the financial officer was present and used racial slurs.
Instagram user cann1balkid, who claimed to be a current employee of Gideon’s Bakehouse, also disputed claims that the financial officer allegedly used racial slurs in this meeting. The user publicly responded to the allegations in a series of Instagram stories on May 14, saying, “the author seems to have not fact checked” and “incorrectly name the person” who used a racial slur.
The user behind cann1balkid declined to comment further when reached by TODAY.com.
An individual associated with the Ghosts of Gideons tells TODAY.com this employee “was consulted during the initial phase of the drafting of our demand letter, and has always been able to share their opinion/ voice with us, and they have chosen not too.”
Additional employee concerns listed in the letter include “Inconsistent/ Inaccurate menu boards and Social Postings” regarding ingredients, discontinued offerings and undeclared allergens. Our source familiar with Bakehouse operations confirmed the menu board has not been updated since 2023, though they did claim there is additional signage throughout the Disney Springs location declaring allergens.
The letter also accuses Gideon’s of unsanitary practices, stating “baking sheets never get cleaned.”
Lewis clarified the Bakehouse’s daily cleaning protocol in an exclusive interview with TODAY.com. “It’s important to note that food never touches a baking sheet,” Lewis says. “We use parchment paper over our baking sheets, so they get washed at the end of the night in a single rinse.”
The letter makes claims Gideon’s Bakehouse uniforms consist of black pants, which employees had to wear year-round — even while assisting customers in an outdoor queue — despite Florida’s high temperatures. “After having multiple conversations with Disney Springs leadership and the Unite Here 362 representatives, we have come to understand that a change in uniform can be initiated by amendment. No longer can the ‘look’ of something overpower the safety of us,” the letter reads.
Our source familiar with Gideon’s Bakehouse operations tells us the Disney Springs location plans to implement new protocol allowing employees to rotate between outdoor and indoor shifts to prevent them from overheating.
The demands
In the letter, writers demand “a base rate of $16 + tip share.” In addition to a wage increase, employees are also asking management to implement an “automatic / mandatory 7.5% gratuity” on all guest orders beginning May 12. Lewis declined to comment on the record about the demand for automatic gratuity.
These demands are made on the basis of the claim that other neighboring restaurants are paying their employees higher wages. The letter argues Auntie Anne’s, a competing fast-food chain, pays employees $18 an hour, plus tips.
Our source familiar with Gideon’s Bakehouse operations tells TODAY.com the goal of the company is for all employees to earn at least $20 per hour, including tips.
According to a job listing posted on Starbucks’s website, the coffee chain is offering $18.25 to $20.72 for a barista position at one of their two Disney Springs locations. A job listing for a front of house bakery associate at Sprinkles in Disney Springs posted a salary of $15 per hour, and a job listing posted on Glassdoor and Indeed shows Wetzel’s Pretzels offering $15.50 to $16.50 per hour for a team member position at its Disney Springs Marketplace location. The Wetzel’s Pretzels job description does not mention whether employees will receive tips.
“We have been begging since the opening of the establishment for more pay since we aren’t servers in any fashion,” a former employee, who wished to remain anonymous, tells TODAY.com. The employee says they worked at the Disney Springs location from December 2022 to October 2023.
Rose tells TODAY.com that when she interviewed for a position at the Disney Springs location, she received a verbal promise that she would earn $19 — $25 an hour including tips “because everyone’s so excited for this location.” Rose said her paychecks did not come close to reflecting the promised wages.
“Steve brought on this narrative that our cookies were such a high quality product and everyone loves them and they see how big they are and the price point is so cheap for what they’re getting,” Corzo says, adding the idea was that “everyone’s gonna leave you gratuity.”
The store’s tipping policy was clarified in February 2024 after Lewis received customer complaints about workers asking for tips. Our source familiar with Gideon’s Bakehouse operations refuted claims that staff were previously allowed to ask for tips: “It has always been the policy to not ask for tips.”
As a result of the clarified tipping policy, the Ghosts of Gideons have also asked Lewis, McKinney and Freiermuth to issue a $1,200 bonus by May 17 to all employees who worked during the last three pay periods, which is meant to cover “the lower wages suffered from the ‘no tip’ asking policy.”
Representatives for Lewis didn’t respond to TODAY.com’s request for comment on whether a May 17 payment was made.
At its Disney Springs location, Gideon’s Bakehouse charges $6 per cookie, $6 for nitro cold brew and $9 per cake slice. The letter claims the shop generates $40,000 per day, based on numbers employees say were frequently disclosed by management in staff meetings.
TODAY.com spoke with one former employee via Instagram who alleged Lewis would frequently mention extravagant purchases “like a new mansion with acres of land in Colorado or a new Lamborghini, which is upsetting since a lot of people can’t even pay rent or eat.” Lewis declined to comment on the record about owning property in Colorado, though he did deny owning a Lamborghini in a recent Instagram post.
Criticism against the Ghost of Gideons
Ghosts of Gideons drew criticism online after they compared working at Gideon’s Bakehouse to feeling “like we’re trapped on an 1800’s plantation — working for the big house.”
Unlike Gideon’s employees, enslaved people who worked on U.S. plantations were not paid for their labor.
Some users commented on an Instagram post shared on the Ghosts of Gideons account to criticize the language used in the letter.
“why do yall keep ignoring criticism of comparing your working conditions to a PLANTATION knowing a majority of you are white?” one user posted. “Do you not see how gross that is? How many POC employees are there and are they okay with this comparison? Was there any discussion beforehand about it?”
“You guys know that the way you’re handling this, the discourse has shifted from your very legit and reasonable safety concerns to focus on YOUR racist micro-aggression AND that maybe you guys are entitled with how much you’re asking for in tips?” another user wrote.
Are Gideon’s Bakehouse employees unionizing?
In an email sent to TODAY.com on the evening of May 14, the Ghosts of Gideons said employees had begun the process of organizing with Local 362 of Unite Here, a union representing auto plaza, attractions, custodial, park greeters, slide ops and vacation planning cast members at Walt Disney World as well as food service workers in Central Florida and South Carolina.
The Walt Disney Company, which does not own or manage Gideon’s Bakehouse, did not respond to TODAY.com’s multiple requests for comment.
Eric Clinton, President of Local 362, confirmed in an email to TODAY.com that as of May 15, current employees of Gideon’s Bakehouse are discussing forming a union.
“We have no other comment on this ongoing organizing effort at this time,” Clinton tells TODAY.com. “We will keep you updated as this develops.”
Has Gideon’s Bakehouse responded to allegations?
Lewis, who manages the bakery’s social media accounts, responded to some of the accusations in an Instagram story posted on May 14: “In our nine years of business, we have never failed a health and safety report or had any major infractions, and our second location would not have been permitted to open without meeting all requirements and then some.”
On May 21, a second statement was shared on Gideon’s Bakehouse Instagram account. It reads, in part, “Someone hiding behind the shield of anonymity created a social media account making a laundry list of accusations about the Flagship Gideon’s shop, ranging from misleading to blatantly false to simply petty. It’s important to note: This person does not work for Gideon’s and is not representative of my crew.”
The public statement also addressed the company’s compensation for employees, stating, “Our approach is incredibly standard, though it consistently benefits my staff more than most jobs because we’re fortunate enough to have a full line, and then some, from open to close every day 365.”
Owner Steve Lewis shared an official statement with TODAY.com, which reads, in part, “As soon as these accusations went public, we talked to each and every member of our crew to be sure they felt safe and heard, reminding them that they are valued and we’re all in this together.”
TODAY.com independently reached out to McKinney via email and Freiermuth via LinkedIn on May 14 and did not receive a response.
What fans of Gideon’s Bakehouse are saying
Fans of the bakery flooded the comments section of a recent Instagram post to express their disappointment.
“Shame on you if even half of those accusations are true,” one commenter wrote.
“This hurts my heart,” said another.
Social media users also criticized the recent statement, which read, “If you’re not sitting in front of us accepting a position, it’s NYB.”
“‘NYB’… wages are definitely our business as the customer,” one user commented.
While droves of commenters said they wouldn’t return to the bakery until “upper management is held responsible,” some expressed continued support for Gideon’s.
“Since day one behind the counter at east end, your sincere care for people and your baked goods has shown,” one user wrote.
Some comments left on the Ghost of Gideons Instagram account appeared to criticize demands and language used in the viral letter.
“Y’all want a pay increase AND a mandatory percent of every sale. That’s…wild,” one person wrote. Another added the letter was “coming off like a bizarre smear campaign.”
The dispute among employees and management at Gideon’s remains an unsolved mystery as Ghosts leaders paused all press communications after successfully signing on with Unite Here. And despite this mess in the kitchen, the bakehouse continues to operate as it always has — by selling oversized cookies to hundreds of locals and tourists alike each day.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
